# Breakdown of classical electrostatics in the depolarization of quantum wires and nanotubes

## TL;DR

This paper reveals that classical electrostatics fails to accurately describe the depolarization effect in quantum wires and nanotubes, where many-body correlations significantly influence optical absorption near the threshold.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that many-body correlations dominate the depolarization effect, challenging the traditional electrostatic approximation in quantum wires and nanotubes.

## Key findings

- Classical electrostatics does not accurately predict depolarization effects.
- Many-body correlations significantly modify optical absorption spectra.
- The spectral dependence near the absorption threshold is strongly affected by electron interactions.

## Abstract

In quantum wires, such as metallic nanotubes, the optical absorption of the transverse polarization is controlled by the depolarization effect which stems from the redistribution of conduction electrons around the circumference of the system. The traditional electrostatics treatment of the depolarization effect relies on approximating the system by a cylinder with some effective dielectric permittivity. We demonstrate that this simple intuitive picture does not adequately describe optical absorption near its threshold, as the depolarization effect becomes dominated by many-body correlations which strongly modify the spectral dependence of absorption.